A perceptive witness to his time, the photojournalist Denis Reichle died on 5 October 2014, having lived an
extraordinary life.

From Cambodia to Angola, Afghanistan to Nicaragua, he captured moments when humanity opens its arms
to barbarity and ideology is transformed into a force of evil.

His images have been seen around the world.

He left behind him an astounding quantity of black-and-white photographs, videos and travel journals
accumulated over fifty years, a fascinating archive to which filmmaker Fanny Spindler has unique access.

By retracing his journey, In the Grip of War allows us to enter into the daily life of a keen observer of armed
conflict post-1945, who was always drawn to the front line, indifferent to danger.

Denis Reichle was a tireless traveller, a war correspondent as discreet as he was intrepid, a pragmatic rebel
with a vibrant humanity who kept his own dark side to himself.

This film explores the personal destiny and memories of this larger-than-life, unclassifiable character who
grew up as an orphan in Alsace, and whose childhood was stolen from him.

It probes the mysteries of the human condition by evoking the greatest horrors of recent world history…

« A life is worthless, yet nothing is worth more than a life» André Malraux Les Conquérants (1928)